Bovegno
Bovegno After the War: Reconstruction and Memory
German Counter-Offensives
Following the reprisals, the inhabitants of Bovegno, with the help of the Allies, began to rebuild the town. From December 1944, the Germans, increasingly pressured by the Allies, began to withdraw from Northern Italy. Nevertheless, Nazifascist counter-offensives did not cease in the upper Val Trompia.
Trials and Sentences
After the Liberation, in June 1945, trials began against those responsible for the massacre. The main trial took place in Brescia and saw the death sentence of six members of the Sorlini gang, including Ferruccio Sorlini himself. Other members of the fascist military and political forces present in Bovegno that night were also tried and convicted, including Julius Schaal, head of the SS in the area, who was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Memory and Reconstruction
In the post-war period, Bovegno began to rebuild its social fabric and celebrate the memory of the massacre victims. A war cemetery was built to honor the 15 fallen, and the local population raised funds to erect a monument to the fallen at the site of the massacre. Between 1949 and 1950, a civil trial was also held in which some of the owners of the vehicles that had accompanied the Nazis that night were tried for their responsibility in the massacre.
Today, the memory of the Bovegno massacre is alive in the local community and the history of the upper Val Trompia. The monument to the fallen still stands at the site of the massacre, and every year the town celebrates August 15th with a Mass and a commemorative ceremony. In 2004, the Lombardy Region declared the Bovegno monument to the fallen a place of historical memory.
